Ronin

John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate was the essential film about the Cold War, and he would seem the ideal candidate for setting us straight on the age of amorphous danger and treachery that has succeeded it. Unfortunately, his Ronin is heavy on derivative car chases and explosions and light on plot, edge, and relevance.

Robert De Niro puts in a sardonic if standard performance as Sam, an operative for hire teamed up with a crew of other rootless mercenaries in a plot to steal a MacGuffinish briefcase for a mystery employer represented by no-nonsense Deirdre (Natascha McElhone). Among the mercenaries is Gregor (Stellan Skarsgård), a Dilbertish Eastern European computer specialist, and Vincent (Jean Reno), the erstwhile coordinator of the unit and a seeming naïf who bonds with Sam. Mishaps, double-crosses, tough-guy badinage, and brutal high-tech violence prevail in various colorful European backgrounds, none of it registering emotionally or ironically, despite Jonathan Pryce's over-the-top turn as a loose-cannon terrorist. The title refers to the masterless samurai of medieval Japan, in particular the legendary avengers of the kabuki play The Loyal Forty-Seven Ronin, which has been adapted to the screen by such great filmmakers as Kenji Mizoguchi. Frankenheimer's updating falls short of both Mizoguchi's genius and his own. At the Lincoln Mall, Showcase, Starcase, Tri-Boro, and Woonsocket cinemas.

-- Peter Keough